USS Twilight (NCC-74413)
Above: U.S.S. Twilight NCC - 74413 firing her forward phasers at Jem'Hadar fighters during the Dominion War. Note that Twilight only carried 4, one-man Valkyrie starfighters during the war for protection, on the insistence of Adm. Nyota Uhura of Starfleet Intelligence. U.S.S. Twilight ''NCC - 74413 is a Nova Class Starship built at the San Francisco Fleet Yards in 2369. She is currently under the command of Captain Jaryd Harker, M.D., and is attached to Starfleet Intelligence, under Admiral Nyota Uhura. She was refit specifically as a Medical Research Vessel, and is equipped to handle any medical disaster in the Federation, within design limits. During war or peacetime, ''Twilight ''is the ship Starfleet sends out to find a cure for biogenic or megagenic weapons, handle pandemic outbreaks, or supervise construction of medical facilities at new colonies. She is still capable of conducting planetary surveys, of course, but with an emphasis on finding new medicines from an alien biosphere. ''Twilight ''is authorized to take point and command of any other starfleet vessels in the event of contagion outbreak, and if on a planetary scale, usually is accompanied by one or more Olympic-Class hospital ships. The ''Nova ''Class vessel boasts no fewer than 11 phaser arrays and 2 torpedo tubes retained from her original design as Defiant-Pathfinder--though her captain, a physician, is reluctant to even fire the phasers. During war, as a medical research ship, ''Twilight ''is strictly "hands-off" by both sides, however, "enemy" doctors and scientists are welcome aboard to help find the cure for any biological weapons. Technical Specifications: '''Accomodation: '''80 (15 Officers, 65 Crew and Passengers) Evacuation Limit: 245 Persons '''Hull: '''Duranium/Tritanium composite '''Number of Decks: '''8 tota'l''' Length: 221.74 meters (728 ft.), Draft: 120 Meters, Beam: 47 Meters. Gross Tonnage: 147,000 MT Propulsion: 1 Warp Core feeding 2 nacelles; 1 Impulse Engine; 6 RCS Thruster Quads Performance: Impulse: .25c. Cruise Speed: Warp 6. Flank Speed: Warp 7. Burst Speed: Warp 8.3 (12 hrs.) Armament: 11 Type Xb Phaser Arrays, 2 Forward Torpedo Launch Tubes (55 Torpedo Casings, of which 15 must be Science Probes; 30 Photon or Quantum Torpedoes; 5 casings which can be built into any torpedo or probe required.) Special: (SI vessels only:) 1 Interphasing Cloak, 1 external holographic projector unit, 1 sensor jammer (ECM), and other espionage equipment as provided before leaving a starbase.) Quarters: '''18 Private Cabins (2 VIP cabins), 9 Semi-Private, 5 Dorms '''Holosuites: '''2 (6m x 8m) '''Gymnasiums: 1 Mess Halls: 1 Recreation Rooms: 1 Transporters: '''2 Personnel, 1 Cargo, 1 Emergency '''Shuttlebays: 2 (1 Main, 1 Auxiliary--Cargo Bay 1 doubles as an aux. shuttlebay) Auxiliary Craft: 13 absolute maximum (using the Main Shuttlebay, Cold Storage Parking Hanger, Cargo Hold 1, and Cargo Hold 3): --'Typical Craft Carried: '''1 Waverider Shuttle (''Hypocrates), 3 Type-9 and Type-8 Shuttlecraft, 3 Workbees, and perhaps 1 Shuttlepod. Twilight only carried 4 Valkyrie one-man starfighters during the Dominion War, on the insistence of Adm. Uhura. ("Captain, you're responsible for 79 lives. I am NOT sending you into a war-zone only lightly-armed!") ASRVS (Escape Pod Lifeboats): 20, 4 - 6 Person Navigational Deflectors: 2 Sensor Suites: 18 (the most of any ship design in the fleet, with the possible exception of a Nebula Class with an upper equipment pod.) Science Laboratories: 14 History: On her first voyage, U.S.S. Twilight ''was sent on a classified mission into the past, to stop the M-5 computer, in control of the Defiant-Class U.S.S. ''Adamant, from a genocidal mission against the Cardassian people. A few years prior to the onset of the Dominion War, Section-31 came into intelligence from an agent from the near future, that the Cardassian Empire would join the Dominion. Section-31 decided then it was wisest to do a first strike, and wipe out Cardassia-Prime before it's people could become militaristic. To this end, they stole M-5 from a museum, reprogrammed it, and filled Adamant's ''compartments with a bioweapon lethal to Cardassians. When Admiral Uhura learned of the plot, she immediately transferred then-Commander Harker and Lt. Ryk Orn Raekaar to ''Twilight, with their covers being Chief Medical Officer and Chief Engineer, respectively. Dr. Harker was an expert on biogenic weapons, and Ryk was the Tellarite engineer who once worked on the Defiant-Pathfinder project with Commander Benjamin Sisko. Once back in 2268, M-5 attacked from above the eccleptic plane, firing Adamant's pulse phasers. The attack destroyed the Twilight's bridge, killing off most of the ship's senior officers, and left Dr. Harker in command of both the mission and the ship. With the help of the U.S.S. Enterprise ''NCC - 1701, ''Twilight ''destroyed ''Adamant, but not before M-5 launched the warhead section of Adamant ''into Cardassia-Prime's atmosphere. Working together, Drs. Harker and McCoy countered the biogenic weapon so it was no longer harmful to animal lifeforms; unfortunately, the disease was deadly to plants, and wiped out Cardassia-Prime's food supply, triggering the conditions that led directly to Cardassia turning into a military state to feed its people. Upon return to Earth in the 24th Century, Uhura promoted Harker to captain, and gave him permanent command of ''Twilight. Knowing his new ship would be surely sent on missions of a medical nature, Harker requested and was granted permission to have the entire ship refit, not just her bridge. Twilight ''now boasts two sickbays, two medical labs, two holosuites able to become additional sickbays and labs in a moment, and Cargo Bay 2 can be converted on short notice into a third sickbay capable of handling non-humanoid lifeforms. In addition to the normal crew specialists, U.S.S. ''Twilight ''has a team of highly-qualified medical personnel that include two doctors (besides her captain) two nurses, and a dozen technicians and other specialists. Romulan Mission: In 2371, Twilight was sent on perhaps her most dangerous mission: to cure the Romulan empress from a bioweapon conceived by her cousin, Coloniel Sela of the Tal Shiar. If Sela had been successful in murdering the rest of the royal family, it would have left Sela with the throne. The empress, fortunately, knew Ambassador Spock very well, and was able to call for help from Earth. (The empress was the former Romulan commander from whom Capt. Kirk and Mr. Spock stole a cloaking device in 2268.) ''Twilight ''was immediately called back to Earth, where she was refit with the same Interphasing Cloak device once tested on the U.S.S. ''Pegasus. This time, however, its use was legitimate: the empress herself granted a permanent license for a Starfleet medical ship to carry the cloaking device, to assure Twilight's ''safe passage to Romulus. Sela was informed of Dr. Harker's mission through a mole in Starfleet Intelligence, and made several attempts to kill him. (Lt. Cmdr. Raekaar in engineering: "''Skipper, this thing nearly destroyed the Pegasus! We could blow out every system we have, or worse, scatter our component atoms like a cloud!" ''Capt. Jaryd Harker on the bridge: "''Ricky, we've got 3 warbirds locking disruptors on us! Push the damn button!") ''Needless to say, since Scotty himself had installed the cloaking device, it went off without a hitch; the enemy fire passed harmlessly through ''Twilight. Harker and his Away Team were met in the Romulan Capitol city of Val'Dannadex Trel, by Ambassador Spock. After surrounding the Starfleet party, Sela was brooding prior to shooting them all, when First Officer T'Lura fired a dart at her, infecting Sela with the same disease she'd inflicted on the Royal Family. T'Lura was disintegrated, but the point was made: Harker and his team were allowed to cure the entire Romulan royal house. In gratitude, the empress gave orders for Commander Donatra on the new Valdorre ''to escort Twilight across the Neutral Zone. Just prior to ''Valdorre's ''appearance, however, nine ''D'Deridex ''Class Warbirds decloaked and advanced on ''Twilight, locking disruptors...it was clear they could see them, even through the Federaton cloak! Fortunately, Sela wanted to live at that moment, more than she wanted revenge against Harker, and demanded that he follow his Hypocratic Oath and beam over the cure, which he did. Dominion War: In wartime, Twilight ''was known as a medical research vessel, and her captain had a reputation for finding the cures for lethal bio-weapons, so the ship was considered "hands-off" by both sides. There were a few times during the war, however, when Harker found himself in a moral quandry, and had no choice but to fire his weapons to save another Federation starship in distress. Answering the distress call of an ''Akira-Class starship that had been ambushed, Harker realized that he had to completely obliterate the Jem'Hadar fighters, lest his actions be reported back to the Founders. After this, Twilight ''was on occasion assigned escort duty, which is really all a ''Nova ''Class ship was capable of in heavy combat. Last Unicorn Games Stats: The following are the gaming stats for using a Nova Class Starship, specifically U.S.S. ''Twilight, in Star Trek simulation games (note, this is prior to the Dominion War, when she was refit with quantum torpedoes and Valkyrie starfighters: